Questions tagged [abiogenesis]
The study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter through natural processes, and the method by which life on Earth arose.
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How hard would it be to create a protein “by chance”?
I just read an article about David Gelernter, who was arguing against Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. He said one particular thing which stood out to me:
"...how hard it would be to create just ...
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In the context of heterotrophic theory of abiogenesis, what is an organism that eats other organisms called?
In the heterotrophic theory for the origin of life, we imagine a primordial soup that is rich in organic compounds and the first organisms emerge eating those compounds. Since these organic compounds ...
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Does the lack of “mirror life” tell us anything about abiogenesis?
My (extremely rudimentary) understanding of Biology is that many of the building blocks of life are chiral and that life on earth is entirely made up molecules with the same chirality.
Does this ...
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How did genome replication first synchronise with cell division?
It is obvious that cell division in living organisms is now synchronised almost perfectly with DNA replication and, furthermore, the line of division has to intersect exactly the space between the two ...
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Does Pasteur's experiment contradict an origin of life?
To my understanding, Pasteur’s experiment demonstrates that life is only made from life. If this is true, then how could origin of life (aka. abiogenesis) ever have happened?
It seems to me that ...
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Can a novel protein domain arise de novo in nature or did all protein domains evolve from a single ancestor?
I know there is extensive research into the taxonomy and evolution of protein domains and many connections are, and are continuing to be, found between numerous domains. However, as far as I can see, ...
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Do we see protocells forming in nature today?
I understand that the current theory of chemical evolution (aka origin-of-life, abiogenesis) involves lipid-based protocells that enclosed RNA and perhaps some other compounds as a first steps to life....
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Were Telomeres the Master Key to Abiogenesis [closed]
Knowing as we do now that all manner of complex organic molecules and viscelles/micelles form spontaneously in various environments, from hot vents perfect for basic hydrophobic H-C fatty acids and ...
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Synthetic life creation - status of attempts
First I apologize for my incorrect English and for lack of modern knowledge regarding the subject (I studied biology a long time ago).
I'm interested to find out:
if there were successful attempts ...
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Is abiogenesis possible today?
Life on earth started about 3.5 billion years ago. I would assume abiogenesis happened because the conditions were right.
Would the current earth conditions allow for new abiogenesis and completely ...
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Does science have an explanation of how the first “common ancestor” formed in evolution? [closed]
I always have this question on my mind and I need a better explanation on this. Does Charles Darwin's theory explain it or are there any other theories which explain it better than Charles Darwin's ...
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New earliest life found, what are the implications?
So a couple of days ago it was announced that new fossils of microorganisms were possibly discovered around former hydrothermal vents. According to the paper these fossils "are at least 3,770 million ...
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Experiments on abiogenesis in laboratories
Has any scientist created an organism in a laboratory using the primitive kind of Earth's environment, like the one used by Miller, etc.?
I read that protobionts (coacervates and microspheres) have ...
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What theories exist as to how self-replicating molecules organised into the first cells?
When I was a biology student in the early 90's, what I learned and read seemed to indicate a gap in theories around the origins of life. There was, of course, no real evidence about how the first self-...
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How did Extracellular electron Transport evolve?
According to an on-line article at Smithosonian.com “Some microbes can eat and breath electricity”. This refers partly to the fact that Shewanella use extracellular electron transfer. Does such a ...
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Is a single cell “irreducibly complex”?
(sorry if the title seems like flame-bait - but it's a real question).
I'm trying to understand what could have come before the first cell (What are the "minimum requirements" for a single ...
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Martian Abiogenesis?
In the Miller-Urey experiment the probability of the chemical origin of life under (hypothetical) early Earth atmospheric conditions were assessed. For that water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen were ...
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How did the first life form on Earth reproduce without DNA?
How did the earliest life forms exist without DNA? The most likely scenario I can think of for life happening from nothing is that, over billions of years, with trillions of water molecules and dust ...
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Current understanding of abiogenesis
I am trying to understand the current work on abiogenesis in biology, e.g. primordial soup, the Miller-Urey experiment, etc.
How has our understanding of abiogenesis been revised since the Miller-...
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Why are abiogenesis and evolution considered unrelated?
When a discussion about evolution comes across abiogenesis - the typical reaction is that they are unrelated (see the headline at http://www.factsnotfantasy.com/abiogenesis.php).
It seems to be ...
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What is the point at which abiogenesis is complete and evolution begins? [closed]
Is the minimum criterion for life a single cell? It seems that self-replicating RNA is not enough, but I don't know.
What would be the most basic cell that could fit this criterion and what cells ...
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Can we make a rough estimate of the number of generations since the origin of life?
According to what we've learnt :
we can approximate the number of generations since the first human pretty much like us (depending what / who we talk about).
we have an idea of the series of life ...
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What is the most complex biological organism (or precursors) that we have been able to synthesize from raw materials?
In the Miller–Urey experiment they produced several amino acids. I'm not sure if there were other similar experiments that got further.
http://www.jcvi.org/cms/press/press-releases/full-text/article/...
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Formation of Life
Originally, life evolved from non-living matter. Why is life only generated from other life nowadays, and why doesn't it evolve from inanimate matter, like it did originally billions of years ago, ...
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Are there known examples where an evolved mechanism “echoes” one originally provided by the environment?
Short summary
I am a researcher in origins of life, a field that deals with hypotheses about evolutionary processes that took place before LUCA (the last universal common ancestor), and with the ...
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The origin of molecular machines
DNA holds genetic information and holds the key to the evolution of living organisms. Transcription and translation mechanisms enable living cells to process information encoded in DNA. To that end, ...
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are the spontaneous generation and evolution the same idea but in a different time scale?
I was in my biology class, learning the history of spontaneous generation and how this idea was discarded. I told my teacher that is the same as evolution but in a different timeline. I Argue that ...
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How can you explain the origin of life out of nonliving matter (abiogenesis)? [closed]
According to biochemist Robert Shapiro, the "primordial soup" theory is as follows:
Early Earth had a chemically reducing atmosphere.
This atmosphere, exposed to energy in various forms, produced ...
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Life on other planets [duplicate]
first of all I'm not sure if I should post this here or in the astronomy stack. I think biologist are more likely to answer my question. To make it short:
Why when looking for any sort of life on ...
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What are current abiogenesis hypotheses for first food source?
What is the very first abiogenetic piece of reproducing life (small piece of RNA + ribosome that randomly occurred?) hypothesized to have used as an energy source? I'd be interested in sources to what ...
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Why did abiogenesis only happen once?
If the "primordial soup" theory of abiogenesis is to be believed, self-reproducing organisms spontaneously arose on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago, surprisingly soon after the Earth cooled down ...
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What is the viability of Intelligent Design as a supplement to chemical abiogenesis and Darwinian Evolution?
First of all I am not endorsing Intelligent Design (Wikipedia link); I'm asking this because I (someone who does not have a background in biology, organic chemistry, or philosophy) got into a ...
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How was the first ribosome theorized to have been made?
Seeing as ribosomes are what help perform the act of translation itself, and the blueprints for they themselves are in nucleotide sequences, how was the first ribosome theorized to have been made? ...
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What is the difference between abiogenesis and spontaneous generation?
As we all should know, abiogenesis and spontaneous generation are far from identical. For one, spontaneous generation was disproven with Pasteur, and abiogenesis seems to be a solid scientific theory. ...
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Has any large-scale origin-of-life simulation/experiment been done?
I have been thinking a little about the origins of life, and was further inspired by this question: How did the first self replicating organism come into existence?
I can accept that we don't quite ...
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Why do living organisms replicate itself or procreate
Why do living organisms spontaneously replicate itself or "procreate" (my understanding is that it does).
From a uni-cellular and micro-organism point of view. Is there some sort of stimulant in the ...
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Were there lifeforms before LUCA?
This question got me thinking about something. LUCA is the last universal common ancestor of all current living organisms, which is a very different definition from the first-ever living organism. Is ...
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Is it more likely that the very first living organisms had a linear genome?
Is it right to assume that the first living organisms on earth had a linear genome? I base this on the fact that linear macromolecules are clearly much more common in nature that circular ones. To be ...
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What elements are a possible basis for life?
I've been told that life on earth is carbon-based, Then I got curious about one thing: What are the possible bases for life and under which circumstances could lifr based on other elements exist?
If ...
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How did the nucleobases in the Murchison meteorite form?
The Murchison meteorite is an important piece of evidence for abiogenesis, because it contained nucleobases from extraterrestrial origin, as this Wikipedia article explains.
These results ...
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How did the first self replicating organism come into existence?
When people try to explain evolution, they tell me that evolution is a cumulative result of mutations & natural section of the more superior individuals of a particular species. I think I'm fairly ...
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Why are amino acids in biology homochiral?
Why are nearly all amino acids in organisms left-handed (exception is glycine which has no isomer) when abiotic samples typical have an even mix of left- and right-handed molecules?
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Can scientists create totally synthetic life?
This particular question has been of a great deal of interest to me, especially since it dives at the heart of abiogenesis.
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Abiogenesis: Beyond the research journals as a lead in to discussions on evolution
I just came across this abstract:
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are responsible for creating the pool of correctly charged aminoacyl-tRNAs that are
necessary for the translation of genetic ...
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Good source that explains the evolution of single-celled organisms “from scratch”
Are there any books or sites that detail, step-by-step, the evolution of the first single-celled organisms (bacteria, archaea) from a Miller-Urey-like beginning? That is, assumes only amino acids, ...
